The Road To Romance
by Julia451
Summary: One-shot. The story behind Mai's and Zuko's friendship and engagement prior to his banishment, from knife-throwing lessons and secret dances to dealing with parental schemes. Their friendship had started out slow, but circumstances forced them to rush into more.


She was walking across the palace courtyard towards Azula and Princess Ursa. As she bowed before them, she heard her mother begin rambling on about how honored Mai was by the young princess' invitation, how fortunate their daughters were that the Royal Fire Academy For Girls had brought them together, and what good friends she knew they would become. Mai began looking around the courtyard, desperate to find something interesting to entertain her until the ritual was over. Her glance stopped on a young boy in a training vest practicing Firebending in an open space several yards away. He seemed to be having trouble with some move, and his instructor was obviously getting impatient. Azula followed her gaze and scoffed, whispering something about how she'd mastered that move in one day and he'd been working on it for weeks and would never get it. The instructor seemed to agree with her, as he turned his back on the boy and stormed away. The boy was kneeling on the grass with his head bowed in exhaustion and shame, but just when Mai assumed he'd given up, he raised his head, closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped quickly to his feet. Two blasts of fire erupted as he rose off the ground with an outcry of unstoppable resolve. By the time the fire had evaporated, he'd made a perfect landing.

That was how she first saw him.

* * *

He was sitting by the pond watching the turtleducks when he heard strange noises in the nearby grove. He got up, peered around a tree, and saw one of his sister's friends throwing knives at a tree trunk. He looked carefully around but saw no one else. He stepped out.

"You're pretty good," he said when he got closer.

She stopped, dropped the arm she'd just raised to throw, and turned and looked at him. "Thank you, Prince Zuko," she said. Suddenly, she seemed to realize what she'd forgotten, placed her palms together, and bowed. He wasn't looking at her then, however, but over at her knives embedded in the wood.

"I wish I could learn how to do that," he sighed.

"Why don't you?" she asked, incredulously. "You're the prince; you can do whatever you want."

"No proper Firebender needs to waste time with the weapons of the powerless," he recited flatly, remembering what his father and teachers had told him. "His own power should be strong enough. If he has to resort to substitutes, he's a failure."

The girl walked to the tree and retrieved her weapons. "If those are the rules," she said, "then I'm glad I'm not a Firebender. I love my knives, and I'm the top of my class at school."

"I love knives and swords, too," he said with a smile. "When I'm Fire Lord, I'll change the rules and order someone to teach me."

"But you'll never be any good if you wait that long," the girl explained. "You'd better start now." She held one of her knives out to him. "Want me to show you? No one will know," she said, perfectly calmly, as if that settled the matter.

He reached out for it but stopped. "What if Azula comes back?" he asked.

"Ty Lee showed us the new gymnastics moves she just learned, and Azula decided she wanted to learn them, too, so she took her to the training room and told me not to disturb them. When they're finished, we'll hear them coming."

Something about her surety was contagious. He took the small sword. "Thank you..." he began before he realized what he was missing.

"Mai," she said.

With one fist wrapped around the hilt, he raised his fist and palm and bowed in the manner of pupil to teacher. "Thank you, Master Mai."

It was the first time they'd spoken.

* * *

"Too wide," she said, showing him the proper motion with her own arm. "Try it again." She handed him another knife. It was barely in his hand before he threw it. It didn't even graze the tree.

She shook her head. "Your stance is all wrong," she said, turning around so that they were facing the same direction. "Like _this_." He mimicked her pose. "Good." She held another knife out to him, but when he grabbed the handle, she didn't let go. "Concentrate this time," she said firmly. "Focus. And _then_ throw."

He nodded, reached back, and obediently paused and concentrated on his target before letting go, but he'd adjusted too far and the knife simply landed on the other side of the tree.

A plume of fire flowed from his fist as he groaned in frustration, "Why can't I get it?"

"Because you throw knives like they're fire," Mai answered matter-of-factly. "Whatever you've learned in Firebending isn't going to help you here – they move differently. See?" She demonstrated, and he watched her weapon fly through the air and hit the center of the trunk.

"No, I don't see," he snapped as she walked over and removed it. "What do you do differently? How do you do that?"

"Like _this_," she answered in the same unruffled tone as she stepped behind him. She shifted his shoulders into position with her left hand, held his right wrist in her right, slid the knife between his fingers, and moved his arm through the motion a few times. It wasn't until she felt how hard his hand was shaking that she realized what she was doing. She backed away and let Zuko make his wildest throw yet.

* * *

"Azula's playing out in the garden with her two friends today – why don't you join them?"

He gave his routine answer: "I don't want to play with a bunch of girls," and his mother didn't press the issue.

He tried to ignore them as they passed them later on their on their way to the pond, but he couldn't help but notice that Mai didn't seem to be enjoying herself – at least, not as much she did when they practiced together.

_She's Azula's friend, not yours_, he reminded himself. She only taught him because he was the prince. No one would want to be his friend, especially someone like Mai. It didn't matter. He was just disappointed because it didn't look like they'd have a chance for a lesson today. He wondered why his mother kept asking if anything was bothering him. He was fine – at least, he was fine until he got roped into playing with Azula.

_Be careful_, he warned himself. His sister was always up to something; he always had to be on his guard around her. He'd had enough years of experience to get pretty good at it, but today, he completely lost his head. When he saw Mai's hair about to catch fire, he didn't care what Azula saw, he didn't even remember she was there or anything except that Mai was in danger, and he ran to her without thinking. After they landed in the fountain, he was so relieved to see she was all right that he didn't even remember to get off of her until the sound of Azula laughing at them brought him back to his senses.

That was how they both learned how much he cared about her.

* * *

" 'Never give up without a fight,' " she read as he held the blade so that it glistened in the sun like the purest silver. "It's beautiful."

"Isn't it?" He swiped it through the air a few times. "Next time I write Uncle, I'm going to ask him if he can send me a sword. If it's a gift from him, I'll be allowed to keep it, just like this." He finally stopped swinging it, turned to face their target tree, took careful aim, and threw. It landed and stuck dead center.

He never suspected she could smile like that.

* * *

"Mom's disappeared, Grandfather died, and Dad's going to be crowned the new Fire Lord."

"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Azula's expression told Ty Lee that this statement was completely inappropriate for the occasion, and she quickly added, "... but how wonderful for your father," albeit without sounding any less sad, but Azula was satisfied by the gesture of obedience.

Mai knew she ought to show the princess the same deference, just as she always did. She and Azula stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Mai asked, "Where's Zuko?"

"How should I know?" Azula asked with a shrug and brief twist of the mouth that showed she was confused by the question but didn't want to admit it. Mai took comfort in that as she walked away.

As she expected, she found Prince Zuko by the pond where she'd always seen him with his mother. She sat down next to him and stayed quiet for a bit before whispering, "I just heard."

He turned away from her until he'd wiped a treacherous tear from his eye. It wasn't a gesture she was used to. Neither her parents nor Azula cared about anyone enough to shed tears over them. Zuko was different. He cared about things. He felt. He had a heart. How could he be ashamed of something she envied and admired so much?

After a second or two of hesitation, she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. She let her hand slide down, not saying anything else to disturb his peace, just reassuring him that he was not alone.

* * *

Neither of them knew nor cared what the "party" was supposed to be celebrating. As usual, Mai had escaped from her parents as soon as possible, regretting that her complaints of a head cold hadn't been more convincing, but instead of slipping out like she'd always done, she walked over and joined the one person who looked as bored as she did.

"Staring at them doesn't make it any less boring," Mai informed the prince. "Trust me – I've tried."

"This is such a waste of time," Zuko sighed impatiently. "I have a new move I need to work on. I could be practicing it now."

"I could be trying out the new set of shuriken I just got," said Mai.

They passed several unusually pleasant minutes discussing weapons and Firebending and speculating what use or entertainment people could possibly derive from functions like this. Mai saw her mother do a double-take when she caught sight of her daughter from across the room and begin whispering furiously to her husband. At the same time, Zuko noticed Azula staring and grinning at them.

"Let's get out of here," he whispered.

He led Mai out to the garden she had played in so often but never seen at night. She thought it looked much prettier now, transformed by the shadows, moonlight, stars, and fireflies. They stopped on the other side of the fountain where Azula had pulled one of her many pranks on them, as if using it to shield them from the palace behind it.

Zuko sighed again (whether more in boredom or relief, Mai couldn't tell) and said, "Uncle says things used to be different – that there used to be dancing and music and lots of laughing at these parties."

"So does my mother. She's so glad things are far more civilized now." Zuko laughed briefly at Mai's perfect imitation of her mother's austere accent. "Ty Lee's always saying she misses the dances at the Royal Fire Academy."

"What dances?" Zuko asked, bewildered.

"A bunch of students from the colonies showed everyone how to dance. The older boys and girls from the two schools would meet at night for secret parties while us younger ones spied on them," Mai explained.

"Were they fun?" Zuko asked.

Mai shrugged. "I don't know," she said indifferently. "I never got to dance myself. It looked boring."

Zuko turned to face her. "What was it like?"

Mai raised one eyebrow. "I don't know," she said half-sarcastically. "Want me to show you?" She turned and cast a glance in the direction of the palace, full of people waiting to be scandalized.

Zuko gave her an uncharacteristically mischievous smile as he held out his hand. "No one will know," he said in a familiar tone. "We'll hear them coming."

Determined to make up for all the lost time these parties had stolen from her, Mai took the prince's hand and began moving. They spent the rest of the night behind the fountain, safely guarded by the shadows and trees.

* * *

"Ty Lee's mother tells me my daughter has been neglecting her duties to Princess Azula," her mother announced as she watched Mai pour the cups of tea. Mai finished, took a sip from her cup, and said nothing. "Do you know what I told her?" her mother asked. When Mai didn't respond, she continued: "I explained that a girl whose company has such a high demand as my daughter's can't be expected to waste all her time on the princess and that it's her duty to spend as much time with Prince Zuko as he desires." She paused, as if waiting for a reaction, but received none. She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but suddenly seemed to change her mind, and the rest of the session passed in silence.

Mai didn't want her mother to know this was the first time they ever agreed on something.

* * *

The sound of her parents arguing woke her up.

"It's a good offer," she heard her father say.

"We can do better. I've been working on this for months..."

"It's too risky a gamble! If we turn down this offer now, and the prince rejects her later, everyone will think there's something wrong with her! _No one_ will want her!"

Mai was at the top of the steps by the time her mother started pleading again: "It's _the prince_, dear! You want to throw away this chance for some merchant's son?!"

"One of the wealthiest merchants in Capital City! This isn't reckless speculation or wishful thinking. It's a definite offer that could be guaranteed by one word from me. Why risk everything on the slight chance that..."

Mai had never heard her mother interrupt her father before: "Do you know how foolish I'll look in front of my friends if my daughter _doesn't_ marry the prince? You want to waste all my hard work?"

"It hasn't been a waste – having the approval of the prince has made her the most desirable girl in Capital City. We ought to play that card while we can before he gets tired of her. Do you really think Mai is capable of securing him?" Her mother didn't answer. "Has she given you any sign that the prince intends to choose her?"

"He will! He has to!"

"That's what they think, too, and I'm going to accept their offer before they learn how uncertain we truly are of that possibility. You've done well, my dear. It's an engagement everyone will still envy..."

"Not the one whose daughter _does_ get the prince!" Mai could tell her mother was brokenhearted but resigned – she wouldn't protest her husband's decision any further.

When Mai arrived at the palace the next day, Zuko saw that she looked angrier than her facade for their meetings usually required. Once they were seated by one of the garden ponds in a spot out of earshot of all trees, shrubs, and other possible eavesdropping cover, he ventured softly asking her what was wrong.

Per their policy of never dropping cover no matter how apparently safe their conditions, she didn't look at him but straight ahead as she explained perfectly calmly except for the slightest hint of hatred, "My parents have chosen some boy I've never met for me to marry."

Zuko didn't respond for so long, she was on the point of risking turning to look at him when he asked, "Why didn't you tell me?" His voice almost scared her.

"I didn't even know my father was planning it til last night," Mai explained.

"Planning? So it's not final yet?"

"No, but what does it matter?"

"Isn't there any way you can stop it?"

"Apparently, only if a better offer comes along." Mai felt Zuko looking at her now and turned to face him. He said nothing but took her hand, as if asking if the one wild solution he could think of would make things better or worse for her. They were still children; neither of them had thought this far into the future, but there was no time to think now. They could have enjoyed going on as they were for years, but if that wasn't an option, and things had to change, what was the better change – to know it would end, later if not now, or take the next frightening step together? Mai squeezed his hand, telling him, _Yes, I want it. If you want it, too, do it – whatever it means for us, it has to be better than the alternative. Let's do it!_

Five seconds later, Zuko was on his feet. Five minutes later, he was running up to his uncle. Five hours later, he was called in to an audience with his father.

The Fire Lord didn't try to hide the boredom in his voice as he asked, "My brother tells me you have a request to make, Prince Zuko."

"Y-yes, sir," Zuko mumbled, trembling as he always did in his father's presence.

"Well, the Council will no doubt be relieved you've saved us the trouble of searching for a match for you," Ozai mused aloud. "I hear you have your own suggestion in mind. Who is the lucky girl?" Zuko hesitated, and the Fire Lord's sarcastic smile grew. "Come, don't be shy. You're the Prince and Heir to throne – everything in the Fire Nation belongs to us, and every girl in the Fire Nation is yours to choose from. Our will is law – your sister knows that, when will you learn it? Now, why don't you act like the Prince you should be and make your choice?"

Zuko couldn't believe he was doing this, but if this was how it had to happen, so be it.

* * *

"So, we're engaged now?" Mai asked.

"Just for three years. Then we'll be married," Zuko managed to say.

"What will Azula think of that?" Mai wondered.

"What do _you_ think of that?" Zuko asked her. Her answer was interrupted by a fresh burst of joy from her mother in the house behind them and her father's repeated and increasingly impatient commands for the servants to bring one of the messenger hawks.

"I don't know, but I guess it won't be too bad," she answered, looking back down at the scroll in her hands that contained the key to their future. "What do _you_ think of it?"

"We haven't even kissed yet." He didn't seem to know where that had come from any more than she did.

* * *

They still couldn't dance in the middle of the tedious, stiff, rigid functions known as "parties," but at least they no longer had to wait very long or make excuses before leaving together. On the first such night after their engagement, they lay down side by side on a slope in a small bower of peachapple trees in a secluded corner of the garden.

"You're bored," Zuko said as he out his arm around her shoulders.

"It's not as exciting when you're not breaking rules," Mai explained.

"You better get used to it if you still plan to change all those rules you keep saying you're going to change when you become Fire Lady."

She tilted her head against his as she said, "If you don't make being Fire Lady exciting, the deal's off."

He turned so that he was lying on his side facing her, and she did likewise. "What could be more exciting than ruling the Fire Nation?" he asked, grinning.

She grinned back, and said, "If you think it's so exciting, you can do it without me."

He put his other arm over her, trapping her against the earth, and said, "You have to get away from me first."

"That'll be tricky," she admitted. "I'll never be able to decide where to stick the first knife." She stroked his cheek so that he could feel her wrist holster and its arsenal of sharp metal instruments of death rub against his neck. He grabbed her hand and held it there for a second before moving her palm down against his lips. He stopped and gazed into her eyes for a second before moving his face closer to hers. She followed suit.

Not at all a bad way to have your first kiss, she decided. If they had rushed into this engagement thing, at least they had run in the right direction… so far…


End file.
